I've started on the enemy and item panels
Sorry for the long delay between entries but I've been having a few setbacks in preparing the level editor. I've now got the player and tile panels ready and created an user interface but still have a long way to go.
It nearly drove me mad, but I finally (almost) perfected the deactivation of objects. Thus overcoming problems of lag time. For example it may not be relevant if an enemy is jumping around on the other side of the level so to save memory, it is deactivated until it comes into range.
New ability for mario: Beetroot upgrade! When mario collects this object he will be able to hurl beetroot projectiles to smash bricks and knock out hapless adversaries
room sectioning
Basically a controller object is created and the section number varies according to the x coordinate of the player.
For example if mario is within the first 32000 pixels of the room, he is in section 1, and the background and music adjust themselves accordingly.
Why do this? In classical mario games there were secret sections and boss chambers within a level that could only be accessed by pipe passages. By sectioning the rooms the feature is made possible with out the complications of creating a new room
Mario can now climb up vines
Finally VCE exams are over and I can resume working on my game maker project!
